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Originally Posted by irateplatypus
wow mage, i can't imagine someone reading my post the way you did. i am speaking from the perspective of a US citizen. of course christianity doesn't penetrate EVERY SINGLE aspect of our society... but there is no denying that the christian church has influence either directly or by cultural association with nearly everything that goes on. even the things that run-counter to a christian worldview in our society are often a reaction against christian influence.
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You don't have to imagine it, I gave you proof.
I know you were speaking from a U.S. citizens perspective, which is part of what I was responding to. Part of the reason that many people in other countries don't view the U.S. very well is because of the way
Americans think. You see right there is one example, the U.S. is the only country that I know of on two continents with the name America to refer to itself as America, as if no other country in North or South America matters, because everyone should automatically assume that when someone from the U.S. says they are American, everyone will automatically know their reffering to the U.S.
Sorry for that, I'll try to get back on the actual topic of this thread:
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Jews I've met that tried to prove to me that my atheistic mentality would bring me nowhere but the fiery pits of Hell.
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Who would these Jews be? I have never heard a single threat from my Rabbi or anyone in my Temple of me going to burn in the Eternal Fires of Hell for my sins. As far as I understood it, the Jewish belief doesn't even contain a hell anymore. If you Jewish your supposed to follows God's laws out of love of God, not a fear of Hell. But maybe I'm the one whose been mislead.
As for way too many Christians taking the Bible word for word, its way to common and it does do Christianity overall a disservice. Just like some Muslims following the Koran word for word as led them to have an overall bad image as wife beaters, terrorists, etc. when in reality most of them are not.
Religous texts should not be taken word for word as the absolute truth and word of God. They were written by man, and many times have been translated from other languages. Religious texts should be used as a general guide of how you want to live your own life, not as basis to force others to live theirs in a certain way.